Imagine a public bike network in Metro Vancouver where a two-wheeler could be pedalled for an hour and dropped off almost anywhere.
“I think this is an idea which could go somewhere,” said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie Tuesday. “I think many cities in the region would be interested in such a thing.
“You use your credit card to take a bike from a public stand and you take it back and pay for the time used,” he said.
A staff report to Richmond council last night spelled out how such a system would work in North Vancouver, Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and Richmond.
The report says 3,800 high-quality bikes would be needed and 250 self-service docking stations, about one every 300 metres.
Capital costs would be between $18 million and $34 million.
Rent would be free for the first half-hour, $1.50 for the next half-hour and $3 for the third half-hour.
The registration fee would be $50 a year.
Between five and 10 million trips a year would be made.
Helmets, which are mandatory in B.C., would have to be provided as well.
Richmond Coun. Bill McNulty said a lot of the biking infrastructure already exists around the Lower Mainland.
Richmond, which has 47 kms of bike lanes on its dikes, has just added 55 kms of lanes adjacent to roadways.
Richmond was host to 400 free bikes during the Olympic Games and the city is connected to Vancouver by the new bike lanes on the Canada Line Bridge.
Vancouver, which wants to be the greenest city in the world by 2020, says implementation of a public bike system is a “high priority” by 2011. A survey found that 80 per cent of respondents would use it during the summer.
The City of North Vancouver sent out a request for proposals earlier this year for a public bike system which would run in an east-west direction along the waterfront.
UBC has done a feasibility study for an on-campus system.
McNulty said biking’s benefits include a healthier lifestyle and a connection with everyday surroundings like fresh air and gardens.
“As a form of transit, you’re not adding to pollution, gridlock and parking shortages,” he said.
Public bike systems are in place in Copenhagen, Paris, Washington, D.C., and Montreal. They are coming to London, England this summer and to Toronto in 2011.
Richmond council plans to work with TransLink on a public bike system, but it isn’t ready to go it alone.
“We could be a catalyst for it. The notion at this point is to keep up the discussion,” said Brodie.
kspencer@theprovince.com
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